Dream season ends in horror for Kansas City

By DAVE SKRETTA
the associated press

Published: January 5, 2014;Last modified: January 5, 2014 11:21PM

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — In many ways, it was a dream, going from 2-14 and the first overall pick in the NFL draft to 11-5 and a spot in the playoffs. Yet it ended in just about the most nightmarish way possible, a second-half collapse and another round of postseason heartache.

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith (11) leaves the field after an NFL wild-card playoff football game against the Indianapolis Colts Saturday, Jan. 4, 2014, in Indianapolis. Indianapolis defeated Kansas City 45-44. (AP Photo/AJ Mast)

No wonder the Kansas City Chiefs had such a hard time summarizing their season in the minutes and hours after a gut-wrenching 45-44 loss at Indianapolis on Saturday.

“You know, I certainly think you use this as drive,” Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith said Sunday between wrap-up meetings. “I think it’s good to be playing in these types of games. I think these types of games are contagious. You go back to playing in just regular-season games, you want that itch. You have that urge to try to get to these types of games.

“I certainly think that foundation has been laid for next year.”

The Chiefs have lost a record eight straight postseason games, their last victory coming after the 1993 season. Most of the current members of the team were in grade school, some of them still in diapers, the last time Kansas City tasted any success in games that truly matter.

It appeared for most of three quarters Saturday that things would be different. Kansas City had raced to a 31-10 halftime lead, and then took advantage of an interception early in the third quarter to tack on a touchdown that several Chiefs would say later should have sealed the game.

The problem was that they started playing as if the game was in hand, while Andrew Luck and the playoff-tested Colts started to play as though they had nothing to lose.

The result was a furious second-half rally, one made possible by unconscionable breakdowns by a defense that was spectacular during a 9-0 start. Luck torched a secondary that wilted when it faced premier quarterbacks such as Peyton Manning and Philip Rivers, and his 64-yard touchdown pass to T.Y. Hilton with 4:21 left finished off the second-biggest comeback in NFL playoff history.

“I sat there and talked to them this morning and there were a lot of long faces,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said Sunday. “They had their hearts ripped out. I can work with that.